Alternative marketing channels: the case of the Door-to-Door Channels in a Food Company

Abstract

Consumers seek products of excellence and value propositions that satisfy their needs and wishes. Companies, while meeting those needs, are facing challenges of how to design, select and manage distribution channels that will ensure maximum savings in distribution costs, enhance product availability and effective co-ordination of channel activities. At the same time, manufacturers are bedevilled with problems of how to provide fast deliveries to customers, maintain optimum inventory volume and ideal market coverage, minimize us of warehouses at the least carrying cost of stock, reduce total distribution costs and maximize customer satisfaction. Consequently, competence is increasing exponentially and things are getting more difficult for companies to reach de market. Thus, this study is focused on the task of carrying out a research about alternative marketing channels that complement the conventional ones in order to increase the market share and finally satisfy the current needs of the customers. All through the study, some topics can be highlighted: the theoretical research of the main concepts related with the marketing channels, a deeper inquiry in the alternative marketing channels and the door-to-door channel (theory, origins and current examples) and finally the study of a practical case including information about the company, the situation’s context or the social and business impact. Furthermore, along the evolution of the research, some interesting topics have been discovered and included in the thesis such as women’s empowerment in the direct selling channels and the fusion of the Corporate Social Responsibility and the Business’ Strategy.